The Eastern Scheldt Survey: A concise overview of the estuary pre- and post barrier - Part 1: MEMO

The aim of this survey is to give a concise overview of the pre- and post-barrier functioning of the Eastern Scheldt estuary. The survey builds upon the Eastern Scheldt Memo (dated March 2016), which explored possible sources and shortlisted leading publications, key institutes and contacts. In response to the memo’s reception by the commissioner of this study, the Severe Storm Prediction Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED)-centre, the survey has focused on two fields of interest:1. The first field targets key environmental changes in the estuary after 1986. These have been grouped under five main categories: hydrodynamics, morphology, benthos & primary production, fish & aquaculture, and wader bird population. These include topics like salinity, channel alignment and (re)location of aquaculture plots.2. The second field describes contemporary management- and mitigation efforts aimed to preserve the functioning of the estuary’s ecosystem.For a full view, the two parts of this study are to be read in concert, as the survey (part 2) only elaborates on selected issues from the memo (part 1).